The table is tilted, the dice are loaded, the cards are marked, but the game goes on.

“The Biggest Player in the History of the World”

The world which Chinese Premier Xi Jinping envisions is wholly incompatible with Washington’s priorities. Xi is not only more powerful than any predecessor other than Mao, he knows it, and intends to make his mark on world history.

“Back in the 1990s, Robert Rubin, a Secretary of the Treasury under Bill Clinton, was negotiating the terms under which China would be allowed into the World Trade Organization. My sources say he was basically asking for many of the exact same things Trump wants now … But in 1998, in the middle of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Clinton wanted a “win” (Not unlike the current president.) And Rubin wasn’t delivering, holding firm on his demands for market access and guarantees on intellectual property, etc. Clinton then took the Chinese negotiations away from Rubin and gave it to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright with the instructions to get it done.

Not being a trade expert, Albright didn’t understand the underlying issues. The Chinese recognized she was playing a weak hand and held firm. To make a long story short, my sources say she effectively caved. Clinton got his “win” and we got stuck with a lousy trade deal. When Trump alleges that we got snookered in a bad trade deal, he is correct—although I wonder if he understands the history. Maybe somebody gave him the background, but it never came out in any of his speeches. That WTO access, which finally happened in 2001, let China begin capturing markets through legal means, and access US intellectual property without paying for it …

Does this make a difference now? Probably not … But it gets to the rivalry we discussed above. Is it possible for both the US and China to stay in an organization like WTO? Trump seems to doubt it, as he’s threatened to withdraw from WTO. We may someday look back at this period of a single body governing international trade as an aberration — a nice dream that was never realistic. If so, prepare for some big changes.”

This goes to the crux of one of the biggest geo-political issues facing Europe and America. Mauldin then gives us what very much the consensus view that, “despite some of his rhetoric, I don’t believe [Trump] is ideologically against trade. I think he just wants a US “win” and is flexible on what that means”. Yes, Trump quite possibly will end up doing ‘a Clinton’, but does America have a realistic alternative but to accommodate a rising China? The world has changed since the Clinton era: this no longer is just a matter of tussling over the terms of trade.

Xi Jinping lies at the apex of the Chinese political system. His influence now permeates at every level. He is the most powerful leader since Chairman Mao. Kevin Rudd (former PM of Australia and longtime student of China) notes, “none of this is for the faint-hearted … Xi has grown up in Chinese party politics as conducted at the highest levels. Through his father, Xi Zhongxun … he has been through a “masterclass” of not only how to survive it, but also on how to prevail within it. For these reasons, he has proven himself to be the most formidable politician of his age. He has succeeded in pre-empting, outflanking, outmanoeuvring, and then removing each of his political adversaries. The polite term for this is power consolidation. In that, he has certainly succeeded”.

And here is the rub: the world which Xi envisions is wholly incompatible with Washington’s priorities. Xi is not only more powerful than any predecessor other than Mao, he knows it, and intends to make his mark on world history. One that equates, or even surpasses, that of Mao…

2 thoughts on ““The Biggest Player in the History of the World””

Thoughtful post. Thank you. I suspect this all goes even deeper than so far discussed. No question China employs its most brilliant, analytical, toughest negotiators to work on its behalf, while the U.S. historically sends relatively dull good-old-boys and girls to enjoy their exorbitant expense accounts while professionally failing miserably on our behalf. American insider cronies consistently fail upward, while American Main Street picks up the tab for sliding downhill toward increasing impoverishment.

Some of us may recall Washington Times’ journalist and author, Bill Gertz’s 1999 book entitled “Betrayal: How the Clinton Administration Undermined American Security and his 2000 book entitled ” The China Threat: How the People’s Republic Targets America”? Mr. Gertz examined in detail how the Clinton/Gore Administration transferred cutting edge nuclear, military and other technology from classified status to Commerce and then openly sold the technology to China. I have no idea if this nonsense reached the level of treason, nor in what manner the Clintons, Gore and others may have profited personally, but it certainly smells rotten. It appears China never really had to steal U.S. technology, our White House just openly sold it to them, while the uninformed world marveled at China’s miraculous technological success. We couldn’t hire script writers to make better than this up.

China has had its enabled way with the U.S. at least since the aggressive nineties and probably since the Nixon/Kissinger 70’s, so that’s nearly three decades at a minimum and possibly half a century. I have no idea whether President Trump gets the full historic picture or not, but he appears to be on a healthier, more diplomatic track than Main Street America is accustomed to. Time will tell, but with both the Right and Left Deep State hacks going apoplectic over everything he does; at least some of what he’s doing may be good for Main Street – a circumstance neither the Establishment Right nor Left can envision or stomach.